Score
by Angelikah
Summary: Klaus is kind of a jerk, but he's also a professional hockey player, so he thinks he has some license to be not as well-behaved as the average twenty-something. Caroline disagrees. Well, except for the part about him being a jerk. That was abundantly clear to her when they met at a bar. However, first impressions can be deceiving. Sometimes. AU/AH. Sports!AU. Klaroline.
1. Warmup

Hey everyone! I'm re-writing this fic a bit because I didn't like how I wrote Klaus, so I hope you guys enjoy the re-vamped version ;)

Disclaimer: This story takes place during the NHL 2014-2015 season, using the actual game schedule and scores, which you can find online, but that's where the parallels stop. Klaus and the other characters don't represent any specific players on the teams, and any similarities are accidental.

* * *

"How about her?"

Klaus sighed, cursing his younger brother. They'd gotten out of practice earlier that day, and Klaus had been completely ready to go home and collapse, but Kol had just broken up with his long-time girlfriend Davina, and was apparently determined to get laid.

Three of their teammates tagged along, and they ended up in the VIP balcony of a popular bar. After Kol found flaws in each of the first three Klaus pointed out, he decided to glare at the bottom of his glass instead, trying to will the water to turn into something that was at least 40% alcohol. They were supposed to avoid it during the season, but he was generally the only person that really tried. He should get a pass just this once.

Out of curiosity, he looked up to see the girl that Aiden was pointing at. She was definitely Kol's type, and he was looking at her with more consideration than he'd given to any of the other women all night. The girl was quite pretty, her dark hair shining in the low light, a smile on her face that revealed a perfect set of brightly white teeth. She and her friend were sipping from brightly-colored cocktails, and he let his eyes drift to her companion.

The first thing he noticed was her beaming smile, but the sound of her laugh and the curve of her breasts against her top were the next. She could be an easy mark, her blonde curls and bedazzled phone cover suggesting the sort of girl who could be wooed with an accent and a dimpled smile.

Before he'd even thought about it, he was out of his seat, and he ignored Kol and the rest of the group calling after him as he made his way down the stairs and walked confidently up to her.

"Hello, love."

Both of the girls looked up at him. The blonde gave him what he recognized as the 'politely about to turn you down if you ask me out' smile. He'd hadn't had it directed at him often, and he suddenly felt like he might have read her incorrectly. Still, no harm in trying. "May I buy you a drink?"

"No thanks," she said, turning pointedly back to the brunette.

Her friend had been staring at him with narrowed eyes, and realization seemed to dawn on her face.

"I'm Klaus," he said, holding out his hand.

"Klaus Mikaelson," the friend said, nodding and shaking his hand when the blonde didn't move.

"I see you've heard of me."

"Yeah. You won me $20 off my brother Jamie for that breakaway goal earlier tonight."

"You're welcome," he said dryly, realizing it was the wrong move when the blonde raised an eyebrow.

"I'm Bonnie, and this is Caroline."

"Always a pleasure to meet fans."

"I'm not a fan," Caroline said grumpily.

"Little hostile there, love."

Caroline shrugged. "I've been listening to her talk about hockey for the last five years. I think I would know if I was by now. And like, no offense, but I have heard enough in the last few hours to last me a month."

"Understandable," Klaus said, not at all offended.

So she wasn't starstruck. He could definitely play the 'I'm just a normal lucky down-to-earth millionaire' angle. He liked a challenge. Perhaps he could get the friend on his side.

"But you're a fan, then?" he asked, looking at Bonnie.

"Yeah."

"Who's your favorite?" he asked with a dimpled smile.

"Your brother."

"I'm wounded," he said, holding a hand to his chest.

Caroline snorted. "Are you really, though?"

"Not at all. In fact, If you let me buy you a drink, I'd be happy to bring him over to meet you. Perhaps sign something?"

Caroline pinned him with a glare that would make his sister Rebekah proud, and he knew for sure that he was hooked. Other girls had turned him down before, but there was something interesting about her. Exciting.

"I dare you," he said with a wink.

She looked like she was about to tell him 'no' again, but she glanced at Bonnie and pressed her lips together, apparently slightly torn. "Fine. One drink."

"Excellent. I'll be just a moment."

He walked back up the stairs to the VIP tables and motioned for his brother to come over. "Her name is Bonnie. You're her favorite player, and you'd love to sign something so that I can buy the blonde a drink."

"She turned you down?" Kol asked, suddenly looking gleeful, and Klaus glared at him.

"She won't if you help me."

"I've always liked pretty things with good taste, and it seems like she's decided you're not worth it."

"Stay in your lane, mate."

They'd reached the bottom of the stairs, and Kol walked up to Bonnie, holding out his hand. She took it, suddenly looking a bit shy when he shook it. "Lovely to meet you, darling. Normally we're not allowed to give out autographs, but I've been looking for a reason to talk to you for the past half-hour. Nik's given me an excuse to sign something for you, so that's taken care of."

Klaus tuned out Kol's conversation with Bonnie and turned to Caroline, giving her a dimpled smile. "So, about that drink, love..."

The bartender had been watching the whole exchange with amusement, and she walked over, tucking a lock of blonde hair behind her ear. "What can I get you, Care?"

"Another Pomegranate Martini, please. If you could go light on the vodka, that would be great, though."

Klaus fought down a comment about her wanting to be sober to enjoy that night's activities, knowing that she would not be appreciative. "So, tell me about yourself."

She smiled slightly, thanking the bartender (apparently named 'Cami') when her drink was put in front of her, and swallowing before meeting his eyes. "I'm at USC, majoring in sociology with a minor in history. I have a part-time job helping out an event planner in the city. My favorite color is yellow or baby blue depending on the day, and I like blueberry pie, picnics, and cats. Good talk. I should head home."

"My sister Rebekah studies history as well. She loves it," he said, ignoring that she was reaching for her purse. "Do you have a favorite time period?"

"To study, you mean? The renaissance, probably. There was a lot of progress in a short period of time."

"Do you like renaissance art?" he asked.

She faltered for a second, glancing at him. "I like it a lot. I mean, I don't exactly have an eye for it. I'm not into the symbolism or art history or anything, but I like looking at how the art reflected the change around the artists."

"I don't think you need an eye so much as an appreciation for it."

"What do you know about art?" she asked, though he was surprised at how curious it sounded, rather than judgmental.

She'd stopped reaching for her things and had sat back down, picking up her cocktail again, and he was glad for the progress. Hopefully he could keep her interested.

"I like to paint in my spare time," he said, shrugging.

"Painting hockey player, huh?"

He grinned. "I guess it does sound odd, doesn't it? But everyone has their hobbies."

She laughed and nodded. "I guess you kind of have to. I don't know how professional sports players do it. I cheered in high school, but I would never have wanted to do it for a living."

He kept her talking, and she seemed to gradually grow more comfortable with him, though she was still slightly guarded. He lost track of time, becoming so lost in her enthusiasm and bright smile that he didn't realize how late it had gotten, and when Marcel clapped him on the shoulder when the team was about to leave, Caroline winced, pulling her phone out of her purse. "It's late. I should get going too."

"Would you be willing to come out with me next week?" he asked impulsively, and she bit her lip, flushing, her eyes widening.

He'd surprised himself with his question too. He didn't often do second dates, or even dates at all. But Caroline was...different. He wanted her, and it was good to see that she seemed to be as affected by him as he was by her.

"Okay," she said, smiling slightly. "Yeah. Give me your number and I'll text you."

He wrote it down for her and watched as she walked away, fighting down a smile.

"Still here? Bad luck, mate," Kol slurred from behind him. "I thought it was going well."

"It did," Klaus said simply, and Kol frowned before shrugging it off.

"You drive. I'm wasted."

XXX

Caroline ran her fingers through her hair as she stared at her essay outline, trying to focus. It had been a terrible idea to go to the bar and stay so late. She had to finish up an essay for the next morning. Usually she would have been done already, but Bonnie had insisted on dragging her out, so she was behind. She already had the outline, and she normally could have just pumped out the paper in an hour or so, but she was too distracted by Klaus.

He'd been unbelievably hot (and had an accent, which was always good), but she had to concentrate on school, and she couldn't afford to have a relationship that drained time away. He didn't seem like the relationship type anyway. Professional hockey player? He probably had girls crawling all over him, and she wasn't going to be another conquest for some arrogant jackass who got paid to hit a ball across a field.

Still, once he'd bribed her into letting him buy her a drink, he'd almost been...nice. Okay, had been nice. Sure, there was still the unmistakeable 'dating me would be a bad life choice' aura surrounding him, and he hadn't exactly been good at taking rejection, but...

No. She couldn't let herself be tempted. She'd blame saying yes to another date on the alcohol. That was fair, right? She hadn't been sober.

She tried to put it out of her mind and returned to staring unseeingly at her laptop screen, finally finishing up the last paragraph of the thing by one in the morning (and now she was free of obligations for the entire weekend), and fell into bed.

Despite being exhausted, she couldn't stop thinking about what she'd agreed to. She knew from Bonnie that Klaus was very good at what he did, but not much else other than what he'd told her.

Feeling nosey (and a bit protective of herself), and she decided to google it, pulling her phone over from the side table.

Niklaus Mikaelson girlfriend

There were quite a few different women pictured with him, though one blonde looked close enough to him in looks that it might be his sister Rebekah, and Caroline pressed her lips together. Not that google images was a very reliable way of telling whether someone was a womanizing douchebag, but there were a lot of women in those pictures (was that the girl who starred in that dumb vampire show?), and she wasn't going to be some groupie following after a professional sports player. Still, he'd seemed genuinely interested.

She'd sleep on it.

XXX

Klaus groaned as he rolled over, groping blindly at his side table to shut off his alarm clock and pulling himself out of bed. Though he wasn't excited that he had to be at the practice rink in two hours, he had a feeling that Kol, Aiden, Josh, and Marcel were even less thrilled. They'd all consumed copious amounts of alcohol the night before, and Klaus was looking forward to talking a bit too loudly just to watch them wince.

He showered and ate a quick breakfast before grabbing his gear and heading to the practice arena. Alaric, their head coach, nodded to him as he walked in and sat on the bench next to Stefan, their first-string goalie.

"Morning," Stefan grunted, still looking exhausted.

"Hey, mate."

They waited as the rest of the team trickled in, and Alaric started talking about their last game and how they could have improved, waving at a screen behind him, which was playing some of the highlights.

The team had just come back from a string of away games, and though they were used to being on the road all the time, it didn't make them any less exhausted. They had a string of home games next before their next game off their home ice, but that was against the Anaheim Ducks, which was only a forty-five minute drive across town.

In other words, Klaus was looking forward to a bit of a break.

He tried to stay focused on what Alaric was saying, and by the time they broke away to do some drills, he was trying so hard to not think about Caroline that he just couldn't get her out of his head.

He was thankful when they broke for a lunch break and he pulled out his phone to see a text from an unknown number.

[Unknown]: This is Caroline. We met at the bar last night. I might be free on Wednesday next week.

He grinned.

[Klaus]: How's six? We can have dinner?

[Caroline]: Okay. Where? I'll meet you.

[Klaus]: Do you like Thai? There's a place a few doors down from the bar where we met.

[Caroline]: Sounds like a plan! :)

"What are you so happy about, Nik?" Kol asked, sinking down next to him on the bench and attempting to look over his shoulder. "Did the tasty little blonde finally text you?"

"Stuff it."

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Thanks for reading, guys! I'd love to hear your thoughts. Favorite lines? Scenes? Predictions?

Can't wait to hear from you ;)


	2. In Too Deep

Disclaimer: This story takes place during the NHL 2014-2015 season, using the actual game schedule and scores, which you can find online, but that's where the parallels stop. Klaus and the other characters don't represent any specific players on the teams, and any similarities are accidental.

Just to remind you all, this story is unbeta'd with short-ish chapters.

* * *

Caroline felt conflicted as she stared at her computer screen.

It had been two days since her first real date with Klaus, and she knew that she had to stop pretending that she hadn't had fun. She liked him, really liked him, and she couldn't remember the last guy she felt that comfortable with.

She'd decided to wait for him to make the first move afterwards, not wanting to seem like a clingy groupie, but he hadn't texted her yet. She couldn't help but wonder if she'd done something to scare him off? It had been a perfectly normal date, and she thought it had gone pretty well.

She sighed, trying to suppress her thoughts of Klaus again, instead flipping through the powerpoint from her history class, jotting down notes in the margins of her printed copy as she read through the one on the computer.

Her phone buzzed and she glanced at it. Speak of the devil…

[Klaus]: Are you free Sunday?

She grinned.

[Caroline]: Not even a hello?

[Klaus]: My apologies. Hello, love.

She momentarily contemplated scolding him for the endearment, but decided that she could just chalk it up to him being British (that was a thing there, right?), and there was no need to stop it.

[Caroline]: You're forgiven.

[Klaus]: Excellent. So, Sunday?

She smiled, biting her lip. She had the project due on Monday, but if she got everything done early enough…

[Caroline]: I should be able to clear my schedule.

[Klaus]: Is six all right?

[Caroline]: Should be fine. Where should I meet you?

[Klaus]: I'll pick you up at your flat.

[Caroline]: You know where I live? And lol my flat?

[Klaus]: No, but I'd assume you can give me directions?

[Klaus]: Sorry, love. "Apartment"

She let herself smile since no one could see her, staring down at her phone. Well, she was 99% sure that he wasn't a serial killer, and Bonnie knew where he worked, so if something happened, at least Klaus would die painfully.

[Caroline]: I'm at Parkside. It's 3730 S. Micclintock ave

[Klaus]: I'll pick you up at six. Pizza?

[Caroline]: Sure.

Out of curiosity, she pulled up his game schedule. If she was going to give this relationship-that-wasn't-quite-a-relationship-yet a chance, she should know how often he'd be out of town. She knew that he had a game tonight, but she didn't want to seem like a stalker, since she'd made it clear that she knew absolutely nothing about the sport.

Still though, it felt wrong to not text him.

[Caroline]: Good luck tonight btw

[Klaus]: Thank you, love.

Her history presentation was going pretty well, and she was almost done with most of it when she noticed the time. Surely the game would be over by then?

She searched the results and saw that the Kings lost in a shootout. She had a good idea of what that meant (some sort of tiebreaker), but googled it anyway, seeing that she'd been right.

[Caroline]: I'm sorry you lost :(

He didn't respond, and she decided to go back to her book when her phone buzzed.

[Klaus]: You watched?

[Caroline]: No.

[Caroline]: Just looked up the score.

[Klaus]: Ah.

He didn't say anything more, and she assumed that he didn't want to talk (losing things was never fun), so she set her phone back on her desk and worked through some more of her project before calling it a night.

XXX

Klaus shed his clothes immediately upon entering his penthouse apartment, heading to the bathroom and turning on his shower. The game hadn't been a disaster, they'd tied after all, but Stefan had fumbled an easy save in the shootout (and two in regulation time), and Trevor, one of their defensemen, had played horribly.

He knew the team was doing badly that year, and he had a feeling that the coaches were considering some trades to get some new blood (or just to replace Stefan, he hoped). He liked Stefan as a person, but their first string goalie had become a bit lazy as a result of two incredible previous seasons, and Klaus doubted he'd last much longer if he kept playing the way he was currently.

Klaus sighed as the water beat down on his back. He was looking forward to his date with Caroline on Sunday, but still had no idea where he was taking her. He hadn't wanted to do anything too fancy, because he had a feeling that she wouldn't be impressed by that, so he'd suggested pizza. Now though, he wasn't sure he'd made the right choice.

The date at the Thai place had gone a lot better than he'd expected, and it seemed that Caroline was much more willing to give him a chance. To be honest, he still wasn't quite sure why he was so set on having her. On the way to dinner he'd told himself that he should take her out, bring her home, and bed her to get her out of his system, but once he saw her face, he just couldn't bring himself to do it. There was something about her that intrigued him past their initial meeting, the secretive smile on her face when she teased him, the way she laughed, how her hands moved when she talked...her habits charmed him.

He liked her more than he had planned on, and it scared him. He didn't like commitment, especially with his schedule. No feelings and no attachments had served him perfectly well so far. He didn't want to get in too deep and have it distract him from the game.

However, he found himself seriously considering having a go at a relationship with her. He hadn't felt like this about a woman for a long time, if ever, and they'd only been on one date. He knew that he was in much too deep already. It seemed like a bad idea to just let it go.

They'd never know if they didn't try, and he really wanted to try. Kol had seen his face when he came home after dinner and had asked quite rudely if he'd gotten laid. When he told his brother that he'd gone out for dinner with Caroline, Kol had just raised his eyebrows, looking impressed.

"The reason you're smiling like an idiot is because you went out with the girl for dinner?"

"I'm not smiling like an idiot, Kol."

"If the girl makes you this much of a love-sick fool from a date, please do let me know when you finally shag the girl so that I can avoid you the next day."

"Fuck off, Kol."

XXX

"You look beautiful."

"Thank you," Caroline said, giving him a small smile.

"I'm parked this way."

She walked with him to a small silver car. She was slightly surprised that it didn't look expensive, and he seemed to sense her train of thought because he smirked. "I don't drive it often."

"I didn't say anything," she said teasingly.

"No, but you were thinking it," he said lightly, and she blushed.

"I'm not a gold digger I promise," she said quickly, before realizing that she'd stuck her foot in her mouth again and scrunching her eyes shut. "Okay, I didn't mean for it to come out that way. You know what I mean."

He gave her an amused glance. "It's all right. You don't seem like one. And anyway, I have been told by many people that I seem like a 'car person'. Please do continue your flustered assurances, however. It's rather endearing."

She knew that she was now bright red, and she huffed. "Shut up."

He just gave her a dimpled smile and opened the passenger door for her.

"So…" Caroline started, unsure what to say as she buckled her seatbelt.

"Thank you for agreeing to come out with me again."

She laughed. "You're welcome. Always happy to bless others with my presence."

He snorted, but shot her a small smile, which she returned. "Where are we going?" she asked.

"A pizza place near my flat. It's quite good."

"All right. Sounds great."

They made small talk on the way to the restaurant, and once they ordered, she bit her lip, stirring her Sprite with the plastic straw. "So you play on the Kings with your brother, right?"

"Yes. Kol and I have been playing hockey since we were children. Most of my siblings are into sports in one way or another, actually. My parents just moved to New Jersey so that my younger brother Henrik could go to a top high school for American football. Rebekah goes to UCLA for real football, and my older brother Elijah does sports medicine. The only one who isn't is Finn."

"Wow. It sounds like you guys were kind of sports obsessed."

"Kind of," Klaus said, grinning. "Did you play sports?"

"I did cheerleading in high school, remember? Hey, don't look at me like that, okay? It's a sport."

"I never said it wasn't."

"But you were thinking it," she said teasingly, repeating his words from earlier.

"Perhaps."

"Well, I also danced. Ballroom, mostly."

"Did you enjoy it?"

"Yeah. A lot. Do you like hockey? I mean, I guess you have to if you play it for a living."

"I love it, though I know that you're not as fond of it."

"It's okay. I survived Bonnie talking about it for years, so it's mostly because I'm sick of it. She's tried to make me watch games on TV, and it's kind of hard to follow."

"Seeing it live is a much different experience," he said, quick to reassure her. "You should come to a game. To be honest, we're not doing all that well this year. Stefan is playing horribly. Are you free Tuesday or Thursday?"

"They're both school nights. I'd rather not be out late," Caroline said. "But if there are weekend games…?"

"We have a game against Chicago on Saturday. They're doing well this year, unfortunately, so it should be a good game if you want to watch us get thrashed"

She laughed. "Sounds good."

He gave her a dimpled grin. "I do insist that you cheer for me, though."

"Of course. I'd be an awful date if I didn't, wouldn't I?"

Their food came and he thanked the waiter (a good sign in her opinion), and she sighed in pleasure as the taste of pizza hit her tongue.

"You like it?" he asked his lips twitching.

She nodded. "This is really good."

"I'm glad you approve."

She smiled slightly, picking up her napkin to wipe her mouth.

Caroline couldn't help but enjoy the rest of the date, so she stopped resisting. They talked about her major and school, and he told her a bit more about his siblings. She'd sensed that his parents weren't a topic he was comfortable with when he skirted her first question, so she withdrew, instead talking to him about Rebekah, who was studying in the same field as Caroline, and then about what it was like to travel all the time.

He managed to pay while she was in the bathroom, and she pulled out her wallet to pay him back for her half, but he firmly said that it was a date, and he wanted to take her out.

She shrugged, putting her wallet away. "Okay. Well, thank you."

"Of course, love."

He pressed his hand to the small of her back as he walked her to the car, and she tried to fight down a blush. She liked the feeling of his hand against her skin, the way he smelled, how he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as though he was memorizing her face...

It was a few minute walk to the car, and they mostly spent it in comfortable silence, making small talk once they started driving.

"I had a lot of fun tonight," Caroline said as he walked her to the door.

"Me too. Should I bring the tickets by later this week?"

"Yeah, sure. Wednesday would be fine, if you're free."

"Of course. Would you like to get dinner as well?"

She felt her heart skip a beat, and it was weird to feel like a girl with a crush again. It had been so long since she'd felt excited by the prospect of spending time with a guy. It was...nice.

"Okay. Something quick though, if that's possible. I have a nine o'clock class on Thursdays."

"Sounds good, love."

She gave him a small smile, lingering in front of the door, and his gaze burned her, his eyes dark and wanting. His gaze darted down to his lips and back to lock on her eyes, and she wasn't sure who moved first, but his lips crashed against hers.

The kiss was electric, and it warmed her entire body, making her shiver as he set his palms chastely on her waist. She'd never had a first kiss filled with so much chemistry and tension, and she opened her mouth for him when he ran his tongue across her lower lip, apparently just as caught up in the kiss as she was.

It was only when she let out a soft involuntary moan that she broke away, feeling a bit overwhelmed. He was wearing a self-satisfied smirk, and she rolled her eyes. "Don't get too cocky. It was just a kiss."

His smirked, pulling his hands from her waist. "Of course, love. Just a kiss."

She was suddenly acutely aware of how cold she suddenly felt from the absence of the heat of his hands, and she felt a prickle of need spread under her skin, couldn't help but want his hands back on her body.

"I'll see you on Wednesday, love."

She knew that he couldn't tell what she was thinking, but she felt a little flustered by her sudden surge of desire for him, and her breath caught before she answered. "Yeah. Okay."

He gave her another dimpled smile and kissed her softly on the cheek before leaving.

She turned to enter her apartment building, her heart beating fast. The kiss had been toe-curling, hot, and much too perfect. She was already much too invested for her tastes, but she wasn't sure she could do anything about it.

Still, he would be out of town all the time, and she had her studies to focus on, which would always take priority. It would be hard to get too serious with so little time to hang out together, she rationalized. But as she stood in the elevator, she realized that her fingers had been tracing her lips.

* * *

Thanks for reading! What do you guys think of the way their relationship is progressing? Do you have a favorite part? A part you didn't like? Please let me know your thoughts!


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